Fisheries Biology of the Slender Emperor Lethrinus variegatus (valenciennei, 1830) inhabitant in the Gulf of Suez, Egyptian Red Sea.

A total of 500 specimens of Lethrinus variegatus were collected from Attaka fishing port, Gulf of Suez, Egyptian Red Sea waters using the bottom trawlers during 2018 fishing season. The mean total length and mean total weight were 17.05± 2.26cm and 64.46± 5.82g, respectively. The length-weight relationship was computed as [W=.0088L3.1475].The age of specimens varied from I to IV age groups. The Von Bertalanffy growth parameters were estimated as (L∞) = 23.04cm and (K) = 0.6 year-1 while the average total, natural and fishing mortality coefficients were found as 2.08; 0.81; 1.27 year-1, respectively. The relative yield per recruit and average biomass per recruit were determined as a function of LC/L∞ and M/K where it was 0.05 and 0.74, respectively. The exploitation rate (E) was determined using the values of M and F recording 0.61; hence, the stock is considered to be overexploited by the overfishing pressure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]